Bishop Blazquez to Spanish government: Church is not an obstacle but rather solution to country’s problems

Madrid, Spain, Sep 12, 2007 / 11:22 am (CNA).- The president of the Bishops’ Conference of Spain, Bishop Ricardo Blazquez, told the government this week that in discussions between politicians and church officials, there must be “mutual independence and healthy collaboration,” and he noted that “independence is not the same as confrontation.”

During a speech on democracy in Spain, Bishop Blazquez said that despite “a new wave of secularism,” the Church “will continue contributing to improving democracy and to establishing greater peace and justice for all.”

He recalled the Church’s contributions over the decades to the democratic life of the country, with numerous documents that show how “from the beginning the Church was completely willing to collaborate in the process of democratization in Spain.”

“The Bishops’ Conference warns of the problems in order to correct a path that seems dangerous,” the bishop explained, noting that abortion is not a right, “neither is euthanasia, nor is marriage between homosexual persons strictly speaking.”

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Bishop Blazquez reiterated the bishops’ opposition to the Education for Citizenship course, saying their goal is “to support the freedom of parents to educate their children according to their own convictions.”

Commenting about the frustrated attack by ETA in the city of Logrono, the bishop said the Basque separatists group “should completely and totally disappear as soon as possible, without compensation, because it represents nobody.”